This blog consists of PhotoFeature Stories on artists of all genres, human interest stories, guest blog posts, book reviews, and book excerpts.
CHRIS RICE COOPER is a newspaper writer, feature stories writer, poet, fiction writer, photographer, and painter.
She has a Bachelor's in Criminal Justice and is close to completing her Master's in Creative Writing.
She, her husband Wayne, sons Nicholas and Caleb, cats Nation and Alaska reside in the St. Louis area.

“It’s estimated there are
5000 active cults in the United States today. Five thousand. So what happened
to the men, women and children at Fortney Road is likely occurring at this very
moment.”

Jeff
Stevenson

In 1976, 17 year-old Jeff Stevenson was
in Southern California captivated by the Jesus Movement when he first became
aware of Cult Leader Larry Hill by reading a magazine advertisement on the
album reissue My Poor Generation by
the All Saved Freak Band.

“The
album cover featured a bearded preacher wearing an Amish hat and pointing
menacingly into the distance. That preacher was Larry Hill.”

One
year later, Jeff Stevenson was preparing to graduate from high school in
Southern California totally unaware, that at that precise moment Larry Hill,
leader of The Church Of The Risen Christ, was showing his followers,
specifically second in command Diane “Dee Dee” Sullivan, how to property beat
eleven-year old Bethy Goodenough in Larry Hill’s house on Fortney Road.

Finally, Bethy managed to escape and
careen down the stairs, running toward the dining room and screaming for help
as Diane chased her relentlessly. At
that point Larry Hill, 42, furious at being disturbed by the commotion, came
into the dining room demanding to know what was going on. Instead of putting an end to the beating,
however, he grabbed the whip out of Diane’s hands and shouted, “You’re not
hitting her right! You’re not breaking
her spirit!”

With that, he shoved the child to the
floor and continued to horsewhip her for another ten to fifteen minutes while
Bethy frantically tried to protect her legs, head, face, and chest with her
hands.

Finally, her strength depleted, Bethy’s
agonized shrieks and pleas gradually diminished, but Larry kept on whipping her
until she was completely still and silent.Then he stopped, his discipline a success, her heart and spirit
completely broken.

Excerpt
from Chapter 1:“Where a Breaking Occurred”

Today
Reverend Larry Hill is not that well known, but everyone who knows of him know
of his true colors- not that of a loving Bible-carrying minister, but a cult
leader of the Jesus Movement who is narcissistic and abused his followers
sexually, physically, mentally, and spiritually without any sign of remorse or
regret.

The 1970s was a different time period –
anther world that almost has no semblance to today’s world.There was Nixon, Watergate, Patty Hearst, Charles
Manson, Jim Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and the ever up and coming
popular movement called The Jesus Movement.

“Back in
the 1970s during the Jesus Movement, the term “born again” Christian was new
and—unlike today—had no affiliation with any political or social or religious
group or denomination. The term has been hijacked and attached to beliefs and
political and social ideologies I do not support and I doubt Jesus would
either. Let’s just say I’m a believer.”

Stevenson
became a believer at the age of 15, when he met a high school girl who became
his friend and carried a Bible The Way,
which featured high school and college aged kids on its cover.

“It was very unique looking and I didn’t even know it was a
Bible.She asked me to her Presbyterian
youth group and I went that weekend and on Sunday evening, May 5, 1974, I felt
an overwhelming sense of peace and security when I asked Jesus into my life and
became a believer.”

Stevenson also became a big fan of the
legendary contemporary Christian singer Keith Green with the release of his
1977 debut album For Him Who Has Ears To
Hear.

He would attend his numerous
concerts throughout the Southern California area and soon was attending Green’s
Friday night Bible study at the Green home in Woodland Hills.

“One
evening I asked if he would play at my high school. Each high school club was
given a section of the campus to promote their interest and I was president of
the Maranatha! Club and was given half the auditorium. Keith came to play and
when he started, maybe 20 people were in attendance. Within ten minutes, the
place was packed and more than 200 students came to hear him.”

It was around this time that he attended
a potluck dinner at Keith and Melody Green’s house where he met Glenn Kaiser, a
member of Resurrection Band, and asked him about what he knew about the All
Saved Freak Band.

All that he (Glenn Kaiser) could recall
about the band was that the women couldn’t look the men in the eye.He didn’t really know why.More than thirty years alter, I was about to
find out the reason.

Excerpt
from
“Chapter 16”

Stevenson
latter purchased two more of the All Saved Freak Band albums: Brainwashed and For Christians, Elves, and Lovers.

And
to this day, I’ve never heard any music like that recorded by the All Saved
Freak Band

Rachel
Khong described it very well in the October 15, 2004 issue of the Yale
Herald:“(They) lived on a five-acre lot
of land in Windsor Ohio (and) wrote songs and recorded in Cleveland, eventually
releasing My Poor Generation in
1973.It was surprisingly good – part
folk, part garage, part psychedelic, part blues, and part who-knowswhat.

Excerpt
From The “Prologue”

In 1980, Stevenson completed his All
Saved Freak Band’s collection by purchasing the final studio album Sower.

The
extensive apocalyptic commentary on the back cover and inside sleeve, written
by the Reverend Larry Hill himself, was both fascinating and repelling.

Excerpt
From The “Prologue”

It’s not surprising that Stevenson chose
writing as his career field – maybe somehow deep down inside he knew that he
would be writing about Larry Hill and his community and the horrific events
that occurred on Fortney Road.He moved
to New York in 1983 where his writing career took off.

“I work as a freelance copywriter for various New York
advertising agencies, and am also a writer, photographer, film publicist and producer
of, Thomas Tessier’s World of Hurt. My work has appeared in PRISM magazine, where my article “Bury Me Standing” was awarded
the editor’s choice, and I’ve also contributed entertainment items to the New
York Post’s Page Six.”

In 1998, Stevenson turned his album
collection of the All Saved Freak Band into CDs and it was around this time
that he began to hear rumors on the Internet about the All Saved Freak Band’s
dark history led by Reverend Larry Hill.

There
were horrific allegations about what went on in the Christian commune where
they lived during late 1960s and early 1970s.Had peace, love, and rock and roll for Jesus really turned into
something sinister?

Excerpt
From The “Prologue”

“I think (the rumor) was
on a site called http://new.exchristian.net/ where someone mentioned visiting Larry Hill’s property and
sensing something was seriously wrong with the few people he or she saw living
there. I wasn’t surprised since I had heard about things for years, but I was
intrigued that someone was so impressed by what they saw, they posted about it
to warn others.”Stevenson said in an
email interview.

It wasn’tlong after that Stevenson came across the All Saved Freak Band
website (http://www.allsavedfreakband.com/)and contacted Joe Markko, who co-founded the
band with Larry Hill.

The two struck up a friendship, which resulted in
Stevenson’s article based on his interview with Joe Markko about the band and
it’s four albums titled “Everything You
Always Wanted To Know About the All Saved Freak Band (But Never Had The Chance
To Ask).”

It is also resulted in Stevenson offering
his expertice in marketing and promotion of the CD Joe Marrko was putting
together:Harps on Willows, the best of the All Saved Freak Band.

“I wrote
up press releases and sent out hundreds of CDs to the mainstream and Christian
press as well as radio stations.”

In May of 2006, Stevenson got the nerve
to ask Joe Markko about his experiences with Reverend Larry Hill and what
really happened at Fortney Road.

“It
was by phone that I asked if he wanted to tell me his story. He said he’d get
back to me and a few days later, he emailed me and said he’d like to tell his
story, so I began to write up some questions for him to answer by email and by
phone over the weeks that followed. When he would have a lapse in memory, he’d
say, “You should talk to Carole about that… ‘Leon’ would know better than me…”
and so forth, and he eventually contacted those people and they agreed to be
interviewed.”

As
a result Stevenson was able to interview 17 people who each had his/her own
individual but similar experiences with Larry Hill on Fortney Road.Some of the individuals were Carol King
Hough, Morgan King, Bethy Goodenough, Tim Hill (Larry Hill’s son), Daryl Pitts,
Bob Tidd, and Cookie Markko.

“Others wanted to tell me their experiences
but didn’t want their real names used. In all, I was able to interview 17
people who lived at Fortney Road.”

Soon word got out to the journalist
community that Stevenson was researching and writing a book on Larry Hill, his
so called group and the horrific events that occurred on Fortney Road.Journalists contacted Stevenson via email and
via phone to give encouragement.One of
those journalists who encouraged Stevenson to continue his work was Dick
Feagler of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“He
said, “I’ve written a lot of stories over the years but Larry Hill left me with
a real impression of something; he was creepy, spooky . . . It’s going to make
a great story—I’m glad you’re telling it!” Dick was able to get me copies of
the newspaper stories he had written about Larry and they helped tremendously
in documenting the story and confirming the timeline of events.”

The
horror of Larry Hill is geared in his conception of religion, spirituality, his
version of Jesus Christ, and his narcissist version of himself.Larry Hill exhibited violent behavior – even
times when he beat his own mother, which are well documented.

It is well documented that Larry Hill, in
the late 1940s was involved in a horrific car accident that left him losing his
right leg, with two of the six passengers in the car killed.Larry was thrown out of the car with so such
force that his right leg was left in the car, and his body into the creek
below.

The loss of his right leg was horrific at
first, but soon Larry Hill used it to his own advantage and for ill-gotten
gain.

“Larry
moved along with the assistance of an ever-rattling pair of forearm, or
Canadian crutches.According to Joe
Markko, “Because those white Canadian crutches rattled and creaked when he
walked, he thought it suggested that his presence was a precursor to a judgment
that was to come.’”

Larry developed a drug habit that in
addition to his already violent behavior made his behavior even more atrocious
where he was beating his wife and three sons almost on a daily basis.

In 1955, Larry Hill claimed to have gone
through a spiritual conversion, which he wrote about in his own newspaper Freedom Bell:“I got
on my knees and mustered all the faith I could. I began to cry out to God in
Jesus’s name. I knew I had no merit in myself and asked God to hear me because
of Christ’s sacrifice, and praise God, I felt His presence. I felt my sins
washed away, what joy and release! A new power entered my soul that made me a
new man. Through surrendering to Christ, He broke my drug habit and gave me
peace and love within toward myself and for others.”

However,
this change was only evident to the outside world as Larry continued to
severely beat his wife, and children. Even his followers, at first, were not
privy to his violent side:he would not show
his true colors to his followers until he had gained their vulnerability and
trust. And money.

A former member of Larry’s church emailed me,
“The full monstrous tale of Larry Hill’s betrayals against men, women and
children in the name of Christ needs to be told . . . child molestation, rape
and brutality – he was nothing more than a Shadow Prophet – a dark, empty
reflection of the real thing.A
destroyer of families, his own included, none of his children want anything to
do with him, his two sons running
away as soon as they were able.”

Excerpt
From The “Prologue”

After over one year of researching for
his book Fortney Road, Stevenson was invited to attend the 2nd
Reunion of the former members of The Church Of The Risen Christ and the All
Saved Freak Band, which he attended in August of 2007.

“Writing
is a solitary profession and journalists rarely, if ever, allow the subject to
read or comment on what was written. But after I had more than 500 pages
written and sourced, Joe invited me to the reunion and “Leon” suggested I bring
copies of the manuscript for others to read and comment on. I felt that was the
right thing to do since I had never met these people face to face yet I was
asking them to trust me in writing their life stories. So everyone was given a
copy of the manuscript. Corrections and suggestions were sent back to me weeks
later. It was exciting to get their feedback and if they had corrections, that
only added to the story since it shed more light on the darkness they had
experienced.

I think I
expected a rush of emotions when meeting them, especially after writing about
such personal and horrific things that had occurred to them, but I really don’t
recall any highs or lows. I think “sober minded” is the phrase that comes to
mind; I was determined to get the story right so I focused on that, the facts,
so my emotions were pretty much kept in check throughout the project.”

It took Stevenson over seven years of
research and writing before Fortney Road:Life, Death, And Deception In A Christian
Cultwas published in 2015 by Freethought House.

“For some reason I’ll never really understand,
I’ve always been very calm and at peace about the writing of Fortney Road. Even
when I met Larry Hill face to face, I had this tremendous calm, as if it was
someone else facing this monster. You’d think that such a violent book would
stir up a great emotional response, but I’ve always been very “cool, calm and
collected” as the research and writing progressed over the seven years it took
me to complete the story.”

The most difficult chapter for Stevenson
to write and research was “Chapter 16:Boiling The Frog” since it revealed the grotesque details of what a
typical day on Fortney Road was like.

The day began at 4 a.m. when all members
were to get up and prepare for the possibility of The Great War, which Larry
Hill claimed God revealed to him in the spring of 1965 as he was sitting in his
mother’s living room.Red China would
invade America, over take Hawaii and Alaska.Latin America would also invade victorious in America.As a result, Larry Hill is searching for
converts to join in hopes of saving them from The Great War.

For those individuals who did not get up
by 4 a.m., a punishment awaited for them – either a punch in the stomach,
lashes with a whip, or running ten to fifteen times through a pond that was
three feet deep in the middle of winter.

Immediately upon arising, Donald the
Vietnam War veteran, would lead the men and women in forty-five minutes of
grueling exercises, including hundreds of push-ups, sit-ups, leg lifts, and a
quick two-mile run.Some former members
reported that they also had to carry a club or staff to increase the
difficulty.

Excerpt
From Chapter 16 “Boiling The Frog”

Following the exercise, the men rushed to
feed all the animals and clean their stalls, which had to be cleaned morning
and night, as quickly and thoroughly as possible while the women hurried to the
farmhouse to prepare breakfast.

With the exception of Diane Sullivan and
a few others whom Larry considered prophetesses, all the women were responsible
for maintaining the farmhouse.“The
house was immaculate,” one woman said.“We cleaned cracks on the floor with toothbrushes.We really cleaned.We did everything in the house every day –
all the woodwork.We shampooed the rugs
once a week.We’d wash curtains once a
week.”

Excerpt
From Chapter 16 “Boiling The Frog”

At 6 a.m. the men had to go back to the
farmhouse, have prayer time by Larry, and then eat a breakfast prepared by the
women of the commune.

At 6:45 a.m. breakfast was over and the
men had to spend the rest of their day in their assigned chores:tending to the animals, repairing buildings,
and working in the fields.

The select few who owned broken down
vehicles struggled mightily to stay awake as they drove about doing errands or
completing their farm duties.The rest
left for jobs in the city or suburbs.Glenn Schwartz was not just a guitar virtuoso, he was also a skilled car
mechanic so he found employment at an automobile repair shop when he wasn’t
working in the fields.

“Because the few vehicles we had were
needed on the farm, we had to hitchhike to work,” Leon remembered, “and the job
was sometimes as far as forty miles one way, a real chore in the winter.So we would put in eight hours at work and
then it was time to hitchhike home and start the evening chores.”

Excerpt
From Chapter 16 “Boiling The Frog”

After the evening chores, dinner
followed, but not everyone ate:numerous
members were fasting either by choice or by force that could sometimes last up
to two weeks at a time.Sometimes there
just wasn’t enough food to go around.It
was a difficult task to grow food (food would spoil by neglect or ignorance and
make maggots appear) and storing the food, especially meat.There was an incident where someone poisoned
the meat by placing pinewood in the smokehouse.

Although it was often more famine than
feast at Fortney Road, Morgan recalled one Thanksgiving that the community had
a huge dinner.“We all just stuffed
ourselves, it was so good to just eat and eat and eat!”Then when the meal was over and no one could
move, Larry made them all run twelve miles.“We all just barfed our guts out, we were all so sick,” Morgan said.

Excerpt
From Chapter 16 “Boiling the Frog”

After dinner, which for some consisted of
dog food or raw meat, Larry, Diane or Laura Markko would read lists of work
assignments that needed to be completed by the next night.

And then there were meetings in which
punishments for the previous day’s sins committed by members were handed
out.Sometimes these punishment meetings
could last up to five hours.The
punishments or disciplines were based on twenty Godly standards.Some of the standards were to pray for an
hour each day, memorize scriptures, maintain cleanliness, exhibit self-control,
and witness to others.

Because it was so easy to violate these
standards and cause “spiritual infractions,” most of the members began to live
with the sense that no matter how hard they tried or how much they sacrificed,
they would continue to come up short in their relationships with God and their
pastor.These feelings were enforced by
Diane’s diatribes and Larry’s long, late-night sermons about how displeased God
was with them.He would often publicly
humiliate individuals, singling them out for criticism in front of the entire
group.Church members felt they were
continually disappointing the God who did so much for them; they couldn’t seem
to do anything right.And, since members
of the community were also encouraged to point out failings in others to help
everyone live a more godly life, spiritual finger pointing was the norm at
Fortney Road.

Excerpt
from Chapter 16 “Boiling The Frog”

Some of the punishments given out were:
running ten miles for not washing the goat properly before milking it; running
five miles for not waking up on time; writing Bible verses over and over again;
getting a beating with a riding crop or a bullwhip. These beatings would
consist of up to forty lashes at one time.

By midnight, usually the punishment
meeting was over and it was time for those to go to bed, except for the eight
unlucky men who were chosen to do the watch list, in which teams of two men
were assigned to go on rotating twenty-minute patrol to check the animals.In addition, the tunnels were also dug, for
people and the animals to hide when The Great War came.

The community of believers at Fortney
Road were so exhausted that they often went to sleep immediately upon sitting
down.This was a challenge when trying
to stay awake for three-and four-hour church services, and a life-threatening
problem when driving.

“We employed creative solutions for
staying awake,” Joe said.“Beyond the ‘stick
your head out the window into the winter blast’ kind of therapy, some carried a
cup of coffee in their hand and held it high enough to create a problem should
they start to drift off.My brother
Randy used to hold a small ball-peen hammer in one hand, handle up, directly
above his crotch.It worked.”

Excerpt
from Chapter 16 “Boiling The Frog”

Sundays were dedicated to memorization of
the books of the Bible.Larry Hill
interpreted the writings of Stalin that all Bibles would be destroyed and felt
his members together should be able to memorize the entire Bible.As a result, he assigned books of the Bible
to different members to memorize.

After hearing from so many former members
what a typical day was like at Fortney Road, I wondered if there was ever anything to look forward to.Only CarolE responded, saying, “I am going to try to think of a good time and I guess that
would be if we were going to have band practice.That made everything else at least
bearable.I can’t say it was ‘fun’ –
maybe ‘relief’ is a better world, but it all depended on the mood Larry was
in.”

And while everyone struggled at Fortney
Road, it was the women who had the most difficult time pleasing God and Larry .
.

Excerpt
from Chapter 16 “Boiling The Frog”

There is only one debate now:the psychoanalysis of Larry Hill:Is he demon possessed, mentally ill, insane,
or just plain evil?

“I
did ask Jonathan Kellerman for his thoughts on Larry Hill. Jon is not only a
bestselling author, he is also a psychologist and was very supportive of me over the years as
I worked on the book. After he read Fortney Road, I asked him what he thought
of Larry Hill and he told me, “Regarding your request for psychological insights into
Larry, I’m afraid the answer is rather mundane: all these guys are cut
from the same malignant cloth: charismatic psychopaths, a breed not
unusual in the world of ‘new’ religions as well as politics.”

When it comes to analysis of the
followers of Larry Hill who finally were free from him and his teachings,
Stevenson has the upmost admiration and respect for them.

“For
me, just surviving Fortney Road with your mind intact is a victory, regardless
of where you are in your faith walk.”

Today Larry still lives on Fortney Road
with his second wife Diane, depending on money he gets from disability due to
his leg, and the few followers he does have left.

“No one
knows exactly what to make of Larry Hill, other than in no way is he a prophet.
Yes, he is evil and he knew exactly what he was doing so no, I do not think he
is mentally ill.

As for
Larry not being held accountable for anything, as I wrote him when the book was
published, “This book is your legacy,” and history will forever hold him
accountable.”

Photograph
Description And Copyright Information

Photo
1.

Jeff
C Stevenson

Copyright
granted by Jeff C Stevenson

Photo
2.

Jacket
cover of Fortney Road

Photo
4.

My Poor Generation

Photo
5

Image
11

Diane
“Dee Dee” Sullivan

In
1999

Photo
courtesy of Douglas E Fair, The Valley News

Photo
6

Children
on Fortney Road

Bethany
Goodenough is the third from the left, wearing the bandana.

Photo
7

The
house on Fortney Road in 2005.

Photo
8a

President
Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of the Watergate tapes on April
29, 1974.

Public
Domain

Photo
8b

Watergate
complex taken from a DC-9-80 inbound to Washington National Airport.

January
8, 2006

Public
Domain

Photo
8c

Patty
Hearst

Photograph of Patty Hearst in front of the insignia of the Symbionese Liberation Army holding
an assault rifle. This image was taken during Hearst's time with the SLA and
was released to the media to advertise that she had apparently joined their
organization. Given its proliferation in the media, it has come to be the most
recognizable image of both the SLA and Patty Hearst. According to court
testimony, the gun is a modified full auto M1 Carbine with sawed-off barrel.

The All Saved Freak Band from their summer 1976 tour, dressed in
Colonial costumes for the 1976 Bicentennial. Larry Hill is at the far left
playing piano and Glenn Schwartz is in front with the guitar.